1. Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes had been circulated. They were agreed and signed.

Still to be confirmed was the exact figure of the additional funding for the Town Design Statement.
Mike Gibbs confirmed that the Market Square options report would go to Community Forum on the 1st April and Cabinet on the 23rd April.

2. Treasurer’s Report

The general fund stood at £ 4577.46.
The final report to the BLF had been accepted. Petersfield Tomorrow had been allowed to keep the unspent £324 (included in above total).
Neil Slatter had reminded the Committee that there was a BLF assumption that Petersfield Tomorrow would apply for a further £ 5000 at some stage.

3. Group Updates and Events

Town Character Group

Vincent Edberg reported that the Public Consultation in the library had gone very well. 130 people had attended. All area summaries had been displayed. 50 written responses were given on the day – some were on the wiki. The next job was to write up the draft design statement which would have to be put out to public consultation. Approximately 500 copies (40 – 60 pages of reasonable quality) of the draft document would be needed and 1000 good quality copies of the final document. Petaprint would be asked to quote.

EHDC would be asked to advise on distribution.
2 further events were planned:
Food Festival 31/5 – 1/6
Philip Haines was organising the event under the banner of “Petersfield Events” but the endorsement of Petersfield Tomorrow would be required. The Management Committee agreed the support in principle but would need sight of the full event brief in advance.
The Petersfield Tomorrow Premises Licence gave licence for the August Bank Holiday 2007 and any three days in each of future years.
August Bank Holiday Event 23/8 – 25/8
This event would require the following:
Permission to use the Square
Premises Licence (Jonathan Berry was the designated supervisor)
Road closure
It was not intended that Petersfield Tomorrow would be asked to fund the event.
Nick Keith agreed to discuss the details with Philip Haines the coming Friday.

It was agreed that Petersfield Tomorrow would be willing to help, in which case Philip Haines would be asked to come to Committee to present the case for the event. The public relations element of the event would have to be carefully handled, with businesses and residents given the opportunity to air their views.

Retail and Business

Gareth Gammon had met with Liza Smith to start getting an Action Plan together.
Petersfield Marketing Limited’s licence had been extended to the 31st March. 2008. The Petersfield Retail and Economy Group would be consulted about the future of the licence.

Employment and Training for Young People

A survey on skills shortages had been carried out on 150 businesses in the Petersfield Area. Only 12 replies had been received.
A similar event had been organised by First Partnership in Farnborough. Liza Smith would liaise with them.
Community Strategy was to debate retraining in lifelong learning strategy.

Local Transport

Tony Shaw had circulated an update report.
He said that Gwil Williams, who was soon to retire, had been very supportive but that his successor might have less time to give to Petersfield Tomorrow Transport Group.
With reference to the “Roads and Traffic” section of the update report, Tony drew attention to the fact that EHDC had failed to take responsibility for on-street parking control and he thought that this should be reviewed.
A review of the courtesy crossings was necessary to see what could be done to make them more visible.
Although HCC was going to start preparing Town Access Plans, Petersfield’s was not going to begin until April 2009, which meant a long delay.

It was agreed that many of the transport issues should be discussed in conjunction with the Town Design Statement. This would be raised at the next TDS meeting.

Natural Environment and Local Products

The ongoing South Downs Campaign was still the focus of this group.

4. Action Plans and Planning

The Chairman had circulated the third draft of the Action Plan. The main weakness of the plan was that it did not address the budget adequately. This would be raised at the next TDS meeting.

5. Lobbying role

A number of business colleagues had contacted Gareth Gammon about the increase in car parking charges in the town centre. It was agreed that Petersfield Tomorrow should have been included in the consultation process but could not be a lobbying group.
“Compact” (government initiative) required the statutory sector to work to a consultation code. Evidence from the Petersfield Tomorrow Transport Group should be taken into account when reviewing the issues of town access, car parking etc.

It was agreed that Gareth Gammon, Nick Keith, Tony Shaw and Tony Struthers would draft a response to EHDC about the car parking charges and the wider issues (deadline 22 February 2008) using paragraph 6 of Tony Shaw’s report and also seek a review of the “decriminalisation of parking”.

6. Communication

It was agreed that NK would co-ordinate the copy for the Petersfield Town Council newsletter.

7. Local Development Framework (LDF)/Community Strategy

It was agreed that Petersfield Tomorrow committee members would review and comment on both the LDF and the East Hampshire Community Strategy (Quality of Life in East Hampshire). MG agreed to arrange the photocopying of the documents in hard-copy and distribution to all management committee members.